Consumers have a wide variety of channels and devices by which they may acquire and experience various types of content. Some types of visual content are readily adapted to the screen sizes of different types of devices. For example, video and photographs are easily scaled for viewing on smart phone screens, tablet screens, laptop screens, etc. Most such devices also allow the user to zoom in and out of a displayed image. Literary content in the form of text may also be easily adjusted to different screen sizes by, for example, adjusting the font size of the text and/or the number of words displayed on a page. However, some types of content do not scale well to the screens of smaller devices, resulting in a user experience that could be improved.
One example of such content is Manga, a popular form of comic books and graphic novels originating in Japan. The traditional format for Manga presents a collection of drawing panels of different shapes and sizes (some with associated text) on a page. The reader is intended to follow the illustrated story by progressing sequentially through the panels; generally speaking, from the upper right hand corner to the lower left hand corner of the page. And while each panel may be considered in isolation, it is important to understand that the arrangement, flow and interrelatedness of the individual panels on a page form a context that is important to the reader's experience. For this reason, conventional image scaling techniques are not well suited for adapting Manga to different screen sizes; particularly for smaller devices.
For example, an original Manga publication might be a paperback book in which the panels of a page are presented in a 5×7.25 inch area on a page. When this is scaled for viewing on the screen of a smart phone (e.g., 2×3.5 inch) the resulting size of the text on the page may be difficult to see. This may be addressed using conventional zooming techniques. However, when the reader zooms in on a particular area, this results in the loss of the surrounding context. This is problematic where, as is often the case, the context is required in order that the reader understand the intended sequence of the panels. And even if the reader were to successfully navigate the sequence of panels by panning around the zoomed page, conventional solutions typically require the reader to zoom back out to the complete page view before the reader can advance to the next page; at which point the reader would have to zoom back in again.